When flipping through my phone's photo gallery it's easy to tell what time of year it is: Christmas trees, fireworks, football season, and JiveWorld photos! It's obviously quite a memorable occasion. I'm so excited to be attending my 3rd JiveWorld365 this year, and hopefully I can share a sneak peak into what to expect this year to get you amped/prepared for this party...err...conference.

There are so many unique tracks, sessions, meet-ups, social events, etc, that you really need to make sure you're at the right place at the right time.

2) Meet up with your colleagues and your favorite Jive Community members

The Welcome Happy Hour Reception on Tuesday from 5p-7p provides an excellent opportunity to meet the people you've developed a relationship with online. But pace yourself, there are lots of Happy Hour networking events through out JiveWorld...

3)You DO NOT want to miss the Mainstage keynotes and entertainment

It would be like missing a Game of Thrones Finale. This is the perfect way to start your days at JiveWorld. You'll leave with tons of ideas to take back to your company, inspired by the results your colleagues like Mike Laffin, Todd Moran and Tony McGivern have found with their instances, and fueled by the words and performances of Azure Antoinette, Adam Sadowsky and OK Go.

Did I mention OK Go? They do magical things like this.

4)Get energized with some exercise before sessions begin

JiveWorld Yoga and Running clubs meet at 6:15am (this should be an easy wake up call for those that are coming from the east). If you're running, this may be the only time you see natural light in 4 days. Enjoy it!

Also, this could be a good time to get some face time with Ryan Rutan - this guy doesn't need sleep!

5) Contribute to the online conversation

Participate in the JiveWorld14 Game Series and you could win an iPad Mini! But the prize is not the main incentive IMO. The gamification encourages you to experience all the great things that JiveWorld has to offer and to share that experience across social media and the app. So download the app, login and start playing!

Also, swing by the Social Command Center to pull us away from our computers. We'll need some human interaction.

6) Pick the right track for you, but don't be afraid to branch out

Depending on how well-versed you are with Jive there's a track that's most suited to your needs. Make sure to attend the sessions that are the most appropriate to your needs, but I'd also encourage you to take in some sessions that are a bit out of your comfort zone or level. It's a great measure of growth if during JiveWorld14 you attend mostly "New to Jive Sessions" and then during JiveWorld15 you attend mostly "Advanced Community Management Sessions".

Beer Dark 30 is also back by popular demand as the best coding happens at night...with pizza...and beer.

8) You have to take time to re-charge your battery

I would recommend you take full advantage of your stay in the Cosmopolitan, as it's my favorite hotel in Vegas. Spend some down time in your crazy posh Cosmopolitan room, or head to Holstein's for a milkshake that will blow your mind. #poprocks

9) Get your technical questions answered

I know you have at least one question about the Jive platform or its integration with other platforms. The Genius Bar is stocked with smarty pants that are there to help you. The Jive Solution Showcase and Partner Expo Hall are also great places to learn about companies that can help you implement your social business solution.

10) You'll feel like a VIP during the Final Night Party

Dance it out with Jivers and all of your new friends - I promise you a good time. Even if all you want to do is get in your sweat pants and eat a full pepperoni from Secret Pizza, down a shot of espresso, man up and get yourself to the Final Night Party!

Sounds like a conference you CAN'T miss, huh? If you're having a hard time justifying your trip to JiveWorld, download this letter to help you make your case.

Also, if you register in September, you'll be entered to win the Las Vegas VIP Experience. This includes private transportation to and from the airport, a suite upgrade, a Cosmopolitan gift card, access to VIP activities throughout JiveWorld14 including exclusive receptions and access to the VIP lounge.

Is there anything that I left off the top 10 things to do at JiveWorld? Let me know!

Meet Aimee McCuen from Cox Automotive. I met Aimee at the Atlanta User Group Meeting in June. Starting a new job, traveling to a new city, and meeting a room full of people was a little stressful for me. Yet Aimee's open and friendly attitude made me feel at home and convinced me she needed to be profiled!

Meet Aimee and get a glimpse at her workstyle!

Libby: Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed, Aimee. So, where do you work?

Aimee: I work in the office in Atlanta Georgia. I'm on the fourth floor of a 17 floor building within a campus of Cox Companies. There's no view in my office though. Feel sorry for me!

LT: How would you describe your current job?

Aimee: I work at Cox Automotive, supporting the Manheim business working in the Communications and Sustainability department. Cox Automotive is a global company that consists of Manheim, AutoTrader.com, KBB.com, and a collection of dealership software and financial services companies.

LT: How do you use Jive at work (internal, external, etc)?

Aimee: I'm a technical communication specialist and one of my main job responsibilities is to manage our intranet which we have named 'Main Street'. I do community design/layout, consultation and training, measurements, adoption, and was heavily involved in our recent upgrade from 4.5 to 7.0 this past June. That was a huge jump for our end-users, so there was a lot involved in communicating the new functionality. So, I use our Jive instance daily.

LT: What's your computer deal... Do you use a Mac or PC (or something else)?

Aimee: I am a PC user. However, I would love a Mac if someone would like to supply me with one.

LT: How about your mobile device?

Aimee: My company phone is an Android. As a company, its mixed as far as what everyone has for a mobile device. Since I already had an iPhone for personal, an Android worked perfectly. I wanted to have both to test Jive in both devices.

LT: Pick one word that best describes how you work:

Aimee: Multitasker!

LT: Besides Jive, what apps/software/tools can't you live without?

Aimee: It's kind of old school but my answer is Outlook email. When it's down, I feel like I can't work anymore. I know it's awful but it really is the one tool I can't live without. I also can't live without the Adobe Creative Suite. I need to be able to edit a graphic on the fly. Oh and how can I can I forget my Pandora app. I use it all the time.

LT: Do you have a favorite non-computer gadget?

Aimee: Headphones to listen to music, which I do pretty much all day when I'm working. It's one of my favorite things to have with me at all times.

Aimee: That's a good question and I'm not sure I've figured it all out yet! I have a white board in my office which I use sometimes, but I track things differently depending on the task and where I am.

LT: What you surround yourself with is important, what's your workspace like?

Aimee: My office is a mess (don't judge me!) But the clutter doesn't bother me...for now. My office is the place where everyone comes for everything, such as office supplies, notebooks, etc. I like to work at my desk where I have two screens and everything I need at my finger tips. I prefer to work with ambient noise even though I have an enclosed office with a door. So I'll have a fan running or some sort of white noise when I'm alone. I think it's from having kids... when they're quiet, I know there is something wrong. I have to have some sort of noise to get work done.

LT: Besides white noise, what do you listen to while you work?

Aimee: Pandora. Lately I've been listening to salsa because I like the beat... it's consistent and keeps me on track. And I don't have to worry about trying to sing along because I can't understand the lyrics.

LT: What's your best time-saving trick?

Aimee: I'm all about learning short-cuts in software programs like Office and Outlook. I love shortcuts. How to paste, how to get from window to window the fastest. Overall, these short-cuts save a tremendous amount of time. I often ask people, "What short cut was that!" when I see them using different tricks.

LT: How do you balance work and life?

Aimee: That's a tricky one. I'm a single mother of four kids... I don't know that there is a true balance and if you're reading this and know of any tricks, let me know. There's different challenges and rewards every day with both.

LT: What's your sleep routine like?

Aimee: What sleep? I have two small children who still come to my bed at night (I'll deny that if anyone asks). I struggle with sleep regardless since I'm such a light sleeper; yet it's one of my favorite things to do as I get older. One thing that is a "must" for me to sleep is some sort of white noise. If I can't hear it, it can't disturb me. I usually have to have the desk fan on HIGH close to me.

LT: Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert?

Aimee: It depends on the situation. Probably more of an extrovert. I can be a social butterfly in one instance and then quiet and to myself in another. It all depends on how comfortable I am.

LT: What's the best advice you've ever received (and from whom)?

Aimee: My old manager would tell me, "There's always tomorrow. It's okay to walk away because you can always pick up where you left off tomorrow." Love that, because sometimes you can get so involved in your work and feel like you can't stop until it's done. Sometimes its good just to walk away from it and come back refreshed and with a new perspective.

To thank Aimee McCuen for her responses to this interview, I've made her a magical montage of the people, things, and terms that capture her workstyle. And it's in a handy dandy Facebook header photo-size in case she wants to highlight her workstyle there. It can be popped into Twitter as a background image as well. Super handy!

It seems everywhere you turn on the internet there's another study, story or survey focused on millennials and how they work (or don't). Of course there are stereotypes associated with millennial workers: they're entitled, they're adverse to structure, maybe they can be a little cocky. But the truth is millennials are shaping and influencing the way we get work done as they continue to enter the workforce – they'll take over the majority of the workforce by 2020. They uniquely expect flexibility in their schedules, mentorship and a strong workplace culture, but according to PwC's NextGen: A Global Generational Study, there are more similarities between what motivates a millennial worker and what motivates their more senior colleagues than we think.

We wanted to know more, so we're joining up with PwC for a live webinar to further explore what makes "Generation Y" tick and how organizations can adapt and embrace millennials workstyles for better recruitment strategies, increased employee retention and a more collaborative workplace for everyone. Join us on September 16th at 11am PT/2pm ET to learn about these topics and more and be sure to stay for the live Q&A with Anne Donovan, US Human Capital Transformation Leader at PwC, Joe Rotella, CTO & SPHR at Delphia Consulting, and Elisa Steele, EVP of Marketing & Products at Jive Software.

When an international non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. taps into the power of social collaboration, transformational change is bound to happen. At Pact, more than 95% of our roughly 3,000 employees are dispersed across 25 countries, from Cambodia to Zimbabwe, supporting poor and marginalized communities to take ownership over their own futures. Our staff, as well as our local partners, are now empowered to exchange information and expertise across borders and time zones thanks to our Jive-powered community that we call Mosaic.

During our 42-year history, Pact has helped millions of people transform their lives for the better through programs emphasizing local solutions, partnerships and measurable results. To be successful in achieving our mission, we must work collaboratively with a variety of local stakeholders, from small community groups to national governments. Collaboration, learning and knowledge sharing are at the heart of everything we do, so it’s essential that we have the best tools available to help us work more efficiently and effectively.

Moving to our own self service model

In the NGO (or non-governmental organization) sector, the pace of change can often be slow. Old ways of doing things and project structures that differ by country can hamper adoption of innovative approaches and new technologies. We are also focused on keeping overhead costs to a minimum, making it essential that any new technology we introduce requires minimal upkeep and support. Before the launch of our Jive community, content on the intranet or in shared drives was mostly out of date and difficult to find. This was frustrating for everyone, but perhaps most of all for our non-US-based staff who didn’t have the luxury of walking over to this or that department here in DC to ask where the needed information could be found.

Snapshot of the Mosaic homepage

The inability to access information when it was most needed sometimes triggered animosity between country program staff and headquarters. People here in D.C. would insist they sent an email or posted a document to the intranet while our country staff complained they hadn’t seen it or couldn’t find it when they needed it. Additionally, many of our country teams needed to share information with partners outside the organization as a project requirement but lacked a simple tool to do this. Often at project start-up there would be a several months-long discussion around what platform would be used for collaboration with external partners and consultants, how it would be paid for, and who would support it. Now, they just start a group on Mosaic, invite external collaborators, and in one afternoon they’re up and running. They don’t have to ask anybody, they just do it, and our small team can easily support them.

Mosaic has been the catalyst for a rapid cultural transformation at Pact. As the person responsible for launching our community, I have seen our organization do a complete turn-around since we introduced Jive in mid-2013. Now, regardless of where they sit, our staff is able to share information and knowledge and engage in meaningful conversations up and down the chain of command, from drivers in field offices to the executive team. Someone in Tanzania who has never visited another Pact office can now easily engage with colleagues based in another country who they’ve never met by simply logging in to Jive. For the first time our staff, regardless of how remote their location, have a sense of being part of a broader community, something that was severely lacking before the site was launched.

We’re definitely a more service-oriented culture now, with people being more thoughtful about how they structure and supply information. They put it into an attractive page, tag it with key words to make it easily searchable, promote it in our weekly email newsletter, and people are just coming and serving themselves. And content is more interactive. Not only can someone access a policy but they can ask questions about it or provide suggestions on how it can be improved.

We’ve also seen significant changes in how we develop proposals. Obtaining funding from donors is critical to our mission and now we are using Jive as our proposal development platform. Proposal managers are happy because versions are easily tracked and in one place and our subject matter experts are happy because they can easily get up to speed on multiple proposals without having to comb through old emails. And perhaps most significantly, now all of the conversations and decisions around a proposal are automatically captured, archived and searchable.

These changes are 100 percent attributable to the Jive platform and Pact’s organizational philosophy on openness and transparency of information that drives it.

Getting the most passionate voices heard

Staff members who are most passionate about information and knowledge sharing have just gone gangbusters with Jive. They’ve taken the technology and run with it. And through their actions they’ve become visible champions for the values and work approaches that we’re hoping to instill across the organization. Before Mosaic, if I was the CEO sitting in D.C., I would have a hard time finding out who my most passionate employees were around the world, especially below the leadership level. I wouldn’t have daily contact with their work and I couldn’t see what’s going on.

But now there are clear leaders emerging and they’re visible to everyone; it’s transparent. These are the people being invited to engage in global working groups and initiatives to address larger organizational issues.

Providing a collaboration platform for local staff and partners

One of our earliest use cases for Jive was to facilitate virtual collaboration among our “communities of practice” or CoPs. CoPs were a long-held tradition at Pact – voluntary groups of like-minded professionals working on similar issues who wanted to exchange lessons and tools and collaborate on solutions. Before Jive, CoP collaboration was limited to expensive annual in-person meetings and unwieldy group emails. Now every single one of our communities has a home on Mosaic and three new communities have formed since the site launched.

The fact that our CEO or anyone from the senior leadership team can dip into any group and see not just what our staff is doing but what our project partners are talking about and working on is just amazing. They can get a quick read on what issues are being discussed and challenges raised, and even jump in and take part in the conversation.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Jive has propelled Pact into a new era of working more collaboratively and transparently. What’s most exciting is that this shift is not just benefiting our staff, but the thousands of partner organizations and communities that we work with around the world. Now that’s cool.

There’s still time to submit your entry for the Jive Workstyle Award: The deadline has been extended to September 8th, 2014.

We know that working in Jive changes lives. We've heard that from you!

This is your chance to share how using Jive has changed the way your company works.

We want to hear your community members’ stories, their transformational experiences, and the day-to-day improvements in how they get work done.

So put that camera on your phone to good use and capture stories from your community that epitomize your company's workstyle. Submit entries to jiveawards@jivesoftware.com.

Jive will select the top 5 entries and post them in the Jive Community. Then community members will “like” the stories that they feel are most compelling. Based on the voting, a winner will be revealed on stage at JiveWorld14.

Submission Guidelines

Your submission for the JiveWorld Workstyle Award should be a colorful, engaging story, and answer the question: “How has your Jive community helped you work better together?”

Create a 90-second video showing your community members engaging with the platform to change the way work gets done. Capture member stories about why they love their community and get creative in telling about it! Let us hear from members how the community has helped them connect, communicate and collaborate with others. Have fun with it!

Submitting Your Entry:

Videos may be down-sampled and attached to the submittal or posted on YouTube, Box, DropBox or Google Drive with a link sent via email. Any entry submitted to Jive will be posted to external websites and used externally for promotional purposes.